The Command T.O.C.

Professor advises underwater homeowners to walk away from mortgages -- latimes.com

Professor advises underwater homeowners to walk away from mortgages -- latimes.com

Posted using ShareThis

It appears an IRR Recall may be beginning as I am starting to get emails again. Please feel free to discuss here. I also am now on twitter at www.twitter.com/irr_recall so feel free to continue the discussion there.

I verify my twitter followers so if you want me to follow you, please go through the verification process.

The Fed Has Lost Its Right to Regulate, It was Not Taken Away

Someone once said to me to not get confused between things being taken away from you and YOU losing the right to do them. The first is something that happens spontanously and randomly to you while the latter is something YOU do to cause an action. I believe Ben Bernake (And Tim Geithner) have LOST their rights in their jobs. Nothing has been taken away from them. This editorial will discuss Ben Bernake and the Federal Reserve Bank. 

Ben and the Fed have shown themselves to be in the pocket of the big banks. They have shown they are far more interested in protecting the interests of Goldman Sachs than they are are of the average American. Ben has shown that the system is essentially rigged: Heads I (Big banks) win, Tails You (Individual) lose. Ben therefore has lost his right to be independent; he has lost his right to the faith and confidence of the American people and Congress is appropriately doing something about it. 

In the New York Times it discusses Congress' move to strip the Fed of the powers to regulate products like "Mortgages and credit cards". Bernake, as you would assume, is against this and is using the power of the editorial to state his case. As you would expect, Bernake is essentially saying the entire Western Civilization will collapse if this is passed. But, I say a few things:

1. Didn't it essentially collapse when Ben and his predecessor had control of the regulations? Wasn't it the American public, the people who essentially were being screwed by this system, who had to pay to fix the system that was screwing them? Heads I win, Tails you lose. 
2. Does Ben really think the Fed did a good job in regulating this stuff? Or, is his argument more of the "We know we screwed up but it will never happen again"? 

In the Washington Post today, Ben Bernake defends their role and their need to be the bank oversight group. While he may have some points the key is who is the Fed there to protect? In the new legislation it is clear the "constituent" of the regulatory body will be the American citizen. In the Fed the way it is organized now (and it appears into the future) the constituent is clearly the banks themselves.

In fact, the Federal Reserve of New York has a unique relationship with those who it governs/regulates. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is a unique bank as it is where a lot of the Government regulators come from (Tim Geithner was the President and CEO of the New York Federal Reserve Bank during the economic meltdown of 2008). 

Let us look and see who is on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve of New York. They are:

1. Richard Carrion - Chairman of Banc popula de Puerto Rico
2. Charles Wait - Chairman of The Adirondack Trust Company
3. Jamie Dimon - Chairman of JPMorgan Chase (Wow, such a surprise).
4. Jeff Immelt - Chairman of GE (Essentially a very large bank)
5. Jeff Kindler - Chairman of Pfizer
6. James Tisch - Chairman of Loewe's Company
7. There are three others who are "appointed to serve the interests of the Public" one is an academic, one is a union rep and one is in charge of something local to NY

By the way, the second three (Immelt, Kindler and Tisch ) are elected to represent the public. But, of course, that is impossible as they have a fiduciary responsibility, very specifically, to represent their own company in anything and everything they do. Do you really think, when in conflict, Immelt will side with the Public against General Electric's interests? Do you really think Immelt is doing anything on this board other than representing GE's interests?  If he is then he is violating his responsibility to the GE shareholder. 

My point is simple:  This is essentially a corrupt organization which serves the New York Banks as its master. Those who hire the President of the New York Fed are in fact the people the President is supposed to be regulating. It is impossible to work for two different masters. This must be changed and the Congress is right to begin working this change. 

Salahis - Real Life Media Whores of D.C.

 As I have stated earlier, I am disgusted by what the media whore Michaele Salahi and her pimp husband Tareq Salahi did. They now have hired an "entertainment lawyer" to represent them and are asking if you would like to be on their "media circuit circus".

My opinion, since I first heard of this is we should use this as an example where reality T.V. gets "real". You do this to the White House security and to the President of the United States and you get hammered. You get locked up in cells which make Gitmo look good. You have the FBI run through anything and everything you have ever done. You have the IRS check over your income tax and your life is completely ruined forever.  

You want to be on reality T.V. Well, let's make it real. 

Steve Marmel over at Huffington Post gets it right with his article. Here is an excerpt:

"No... the more important example should be made of the Salahis. They are the high-profile face of this debacle, the smiling, vapid dolts who should be punished accordingly. 

 Treat them as the threat they COULD have been, and make an example of them to anybody else who’d like to make a run at the President for any reason - be it personal gain, or baser motives. 

 Let their misery be the cautionary tale for anyone who thinks the real world has endless patience for behavior unbecoming of a toothless carny. 

That’s the dose of reality I’d like to see come out of this."

Fry them to a crisp I say!

Follow Steve Marmel on Twitter

Representative Cantor (R-VA) Holds Job Fair Funded by Stimulus (After Saying Stimulus was Failure)

 Representative Eric Cantor (Republican from Virginia and as seen in his Cowardly Lion costume on the right) has spent most of his time recently saying how bad the stimulus program has been and has called it an "utter failure". You can imagine our interest then when we found out he was hosting a job fair for his district where OVER HALF of the participants were hiring USING STIMULUS MONEY and directly because of the stimulus.

The reporters rightfully asked the staff (Cantor was too much of coward to address the issue) if they found irony in all of this. They refused to answer probably under the penalty of death by "Darth Vader" Cantor. 

The hypocrisy of the right wing will never cease to amaze me. 

Read the article here at ThinkProgress or you can see the entire video below:

Dubai Debt May Be Higher Than $80 Billion, UBS Analysts Say - Bloomberg.com

Dubai Debt May Be Higher Than $80 Billion, UBS Analysts Say - Bloomberg.com.

Countries are going to have financial problems and this, in my opinion, is just the beginning. When entities owned by Countries cannot repay debt there is a big problem. Be careful!

Market is downat 9:47 by 180 points on the news. 

Toyota Plans to Cut Manager Bonuses by 20% - NYTimes.com

Toyota Plans to Cut Manager Bonuses by 20% - NYTimes.com.

Toyota: Welcome to the world of "Big Auto". Overcapacity, pay cuts, bonus cuts, cut .. cut... cut.. who can cut faster. It was a lot more fun when you were small I bet! Wait until Pensions and Health Care kick in on an aging work force. Then you will really know you are having fun!

The Salahis, Obama’s Uninvited Guests, Prompt an Inquiry - NYTimes.com

Let's be clear on my position: Michaele and Tareq Salahi should be arrested and charged with many crimes not the least of which is lying to a federal agent. When they said they were on the invite list and they knew they were not, they were lying. 

Just like with "Balloon Boy" this "do anything for reality T.V." has to stop and the only way to make it stop is to charge and convict them with very serious crimes. 

Shame on Larry King for having them on his show as well. He is feeding the frenzy. They should be ignored except for editorials which continue to point out what a shameful act they have committed. 

The Salahis, Obama’s Uninvited Guests, Prompt an Inquiry - NYTimes.com.

Sarah Palin Carefully Choreographed Book Tour

The Sarah Palin choreographed book tour continues. I think it is rather ironic and funny that a book tour called "going rogue is so carefully choreographed.

For example, in the video below, like just about all the other ones, The bus pulls up (as if she is in a rush), the bodyguards come out, then she comes flying out with her down syndrome baby in her arms as a prop. Seriously, she carries her baby like a prop; how disgusting.

Then, in the video below, she states there is something "special about this place". Well, "this place" was The villages in Florida where there was a massive outbreak of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) just a few short years ago. So, yes, I would say there was something special about this place Sarah.

A Major Security Breach at the White House. Apparently, reality T.V. strikes again as two reality T.V. starts just walk into the state dinner at the WH. While this shows an incredible security lapse it also is a felony. Clearly, these people know they did not belong there.



Also, they are stating the President was in no danger since the people went through screening. Excuse me? Were there no knives on the table? Also, if they could get through who knows what else could have gone through?



We have to teach reality T.V. a lesson. These people should go to prison and have the "fear of God" put into them.